Videocard Benchmarks: System Specs, 3DMark Vantage, Crysis

Prelude to Benchmarks:

The details of how the ASUS EAH3870
X2 Top/G/3DHTI/1G/A test system was configured for benchmarking; the
specific hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions
are indicated below. All benchmarks for the ASUS EAH3870 X2 Top/G/3DHTI/1G/A were run
in Windows Vista Ultimate, the reference videocards were tested in both Windows
XP and Vista for the DX10 benchmarks.

PCSTATS is in the process of making the transition
to a Windows Vista only test platform, so keep this in mind as you scan the
benchmark results. In the second column are the general specs for the reference
platforms this Radeon HD ASUS EAH3870 X2 videocard is to be compared against. Please take
a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the
individual benchmark results on the next page.

Benchmark results are grouped by GPU manufacturer first (AMD/ATI or nVidia),
then by GPU generation, and then by GPU class (high end, mainstream, value).
This approach provides a clearer view of how performance can differ from
generation to generation, and class to previous generation. The product being
tested is marked with the red colour bar. On with the benchmarks!

3DMark06 is the worldwide standard in advanced 3D game
performance benchmarking. A fundamental tool for every company in the PC
industry as well as PC users and gamers, 3DMark06 uses advanced real-time 3D
game workloads to measure PC performance using a suite of DirectX 9 3D graphics
tests, CPU tests, and 3D feature tests. 3DMark06 tests include all new HDR/SM3.0
graphics tests, SM2.0 graphics tests, AI and physics driven single and multiple
cores or processor CPU tests and a collection of comprehensive feature tests to
reliably measure next generation gaming performance today.

Futuremark 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1

Performance Overall: (P)

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2 2GB

9116

Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

n/a

Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

8852

Asus EAH4850 HTDI/512M

5579

GPU Score:

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2 2GB

12983

Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

n/a

Asus EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

12252

Asus EAH4850
HTDI/512M

5905

CPU score:

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2
2GB

4814

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

n/a

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

4830

Asus EAH4850
HTDI/512M

4786

An odd driver issue stopped the single ASUS EAH3870 X2
from completing the 3DMark Vantage suite, but the Crossfire version put up
numbers comparable with the Palit 4870 X2 2GB.

Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter
developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics
rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to
Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX
10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista
and Windows XP.

Crysis 1.2 (no AA) -
DirectX10

1280x1024 HQ

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2
2GB

40.46

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

39.7

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

39.105

MSI
R3870X2-T2D1G-OC

39.4

Asus EAH4850
HTDI/512M

40.835

1600x1200 HQ

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2
2GB

38.2

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

34.2

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

37.17

MSI
R3870X2-T2D1G-OC

33.8

Asus EAH4850
HTDI/512M

30.79

1920x1200 HQ

Points

Ranking

Palit HD4870 X2
2GB

35

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A

29.9

Asus
EAH3870 X2 1GB TOP/G/3DHTI/1G/A (Crossfire)

34.07

MSI
R3870X2-T2D1G-OC

29.7

Asus EAH4850
HTDI/512M

26.2

Crysis seems to be getting bottlenecked at lower
resolutions, but as the resolution is scaled upwards the ASUS EAH3870 X2 finally
shows some benefit from being run in Crossfire mode - although not quite enough
of a performance gain to justify buying two cards. The single ASUS EAH3870 X2
manages to best the Radeon HD 4850, despite the latter's newer core
architecture.